Providing audio announcement to called parties

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure describes a system, method, and computer-readable medium for providing audio announcement of communications to a called party in a communication network. The method includes receiving communication from a calling party and performing a lookup of information relating to the calling party in a database via an Internet Protocol connection based on an identifier of at least one of the calling party and the called party. The information comprises one or more audio files. The method then provides the audio announcement to a called party based on the audio files.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure is generally related to a communications network,and more particularly to a system, method, and computer readable mediumfor providing audio announcement of communications to a called party onthe communications network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Automatic Number Identification (ANI) is a system utilized by telephonecompanies to identify the Directory Number (DN) of a calling subscriber.ANI serves a function similar to Caller ID, but may utilize differentunderlying technology. It is possible that the Caller ID can be blockedby prefixing a call with *67. ANI was originally developed for telephonecompany billing purposes and is now offered to commercial customers whomay benefit from knowing who is calling them. In addition, ANI is one ofthe core technologies behind the 911 emergency services.

In commercial applications, a user may have an integrated or extraneousdisplay affixed to a telephone. Such a display presents the ANI ortelephone number of the calling party. In addition, the display maypresent the caller's name or calling name, also known as CNAM.Similarly, in case of a Short Messaging Service (SMS), the display maypresent a sender's name. However, the user may prefer to hear the audioof the information rather then watching the display. As such, a needexists for providing audio announcement along with other information tothe user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure describes a system, method, and computer-readablemedium for providing audio announcement of communications to a calledparty in a communication network. The method includes receivingcommunication from a calling party and performing a lookup ofinformation relating to the calling party in a database via an InternetProtocol connection based on an identifier of at least one of thecalling party and the called party. The information comprises one ormore audio files. The method then provides the audio announcement to acalled party based on the audio files.

The system for providing audio announcement of communication to a calledparty in a communication network comprises at least one device forreceiving communication from a calling party. The system comprising atleast one database for storing information associated with the callingparty. The at least one device is operable to perform a lookup ofinformation relating to the calling party in a database via an InternetProtocol connection based on an identifier of at least one of thecalling party and the called party, wherein the information comprisesone or more audio files, and provide an audio announcement to a calledparty based on the audio files.

A computer-readable medium comprising instructions executable by adevice for providing audio announcement of communications to a calledparty in a communication network. The computer-readable mediumcomprising instructions for receiving communication from a callingparty; performing a lookup of information relating to the calling partyin a database via an Internet Protocol connection based on an identifierof at least one of the calling party and the called party, wherein theinformation comprises one or more audio files; and providing an audioannouncement to a called party based on the audio files.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a system 100 for providing audio response in accordancewith one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C depict a flowchart of a method or computer readablemedium comprising instructions for providing audio announcement ofcommunications to a called party in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present disclosure; and

FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of a process (which includes a method orcomputer readable medium comprising instructions) is depicted forplaying audio announcement based on playback preference in accordancewith an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 depicts a system 400 for providing audio response to a wirelesscalled party in accordance with one embodiment of the presentdisclosure; and

FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C depict a flowchart of a method or computer readablemedium comprising instructions for providing audio announcement ofcommunications to a wireless called party in accordance with oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure provides audio announcement of communications toa called party. In the context of the present disclosure, a callingparty is a party initiating or sending a call or a message. A calledparty is a party receiving the call or the message. Such a process isinitiated when a calling party contacts or communicates a called partywherein the calling party and the called party each use at least oneelectronic device and the called party is able to receive ANI or CallerID service and is able to display/play related information to suchservice. The message comprises a text message or a multimedia message.The at least one electronic device is at least one of a computer, aaudio file database, a wireless phone, an Internet Protocol (IP) enabledphone, a wireless IP-enabled phone, or a device that can receive and/ortransmit information. The computer readable medium (or software) of thepresent disclosure is stored on and/or runs on at least one of theabove-mentioned electronic devices.

FIG. 1 depicts a system 100 for providing audio announcement ofcommunications to a called party in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present disclosure. The system 100 includes a device 102, which isable to communicate with a called party device 104. The device 102 andthe called party device 104 may communicate by calling or sendingmessages. The called party device 104 may be communicably coupled todevice 102 via a wired connection or a wireless connection such as aland line telephone or a wireless device including but not limited to acellular device, a Wi-Fi connection, a PDA, a Bluetooth, etc. The device102 may be communicably coupled but not limited to a RJ 11 (telephonewire) communication address 106, 120, and/or a RJ11/wirelesscommunication address 130. The device 102 can specify any communicationaddress such as 106, 120, and 130 to receive information. The device 102has a display 108 and a speaker 109 for presenting the information. Inthis embodiment, the display 108 and the speaker 109 are integratedwithin device 102. However, the display 108 and the speaker 109 may beimplemented as a standalone device without departing from the spirit andscope of the present disclosure. Moreover, the device 102 may containmodules such as a headset jack or a Bluetooth to play audio. Further,the device 102 may be connected to one or more displays and/or speakersvia a wired and/or wireless connection.

In addition, device 102 may receive information from a plurality ofsources including but not limited to a communications network 110 suchas a public switched telephone network (PSTN), a code division multipleaccess (CDMA), a global system for mobile communication (GSM). Forexample, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) that includes acentral office 112 that is coupled to a calling party device 114. Theinformation may be received through at least a RJ11 (telephone wire)communication address 106 of device 102. Other sources include awireless network or data network (not shown) supporting other devicessuch as a computer or IP enabled phones.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide information to the calledparties, such as the called party device 104, by providing an ability toretrieve information of a calling party from a CNAM database 116 and/oran other database 118. The CNAM database 116 and the other database 118comprise information relating to the calling party, for example, callingparty name, telephone number, messages, location, and other informationassociated with the calling party. In addition, the information relatingto the calling party may be a city, a state, an address, a hyperlink, aphoto, a video, and any information that can be sent via an InternetProtocol (IP) connection. The device 102 communicates with the CNAMdatabase 116 and/or the other database 118 via an IP connection. TheCNAM database 116 and the other database 118 comprise informationrelating to the calling party, for example, calling party name,telephone number, messages, location, and other information associatedwith the calling party. In addition, the information relating to thecalling party may be a city, a state, an address, a hyperlink, a photo,a video, an announcement, a short film, one or more audio files and anyinformation that can be sent via an Internet Protocol (IP) connection.

When a calling party communicates by calling or sending a message usingthe calling party device 114, the device 102 receives a caller ID,Automatic Number Identification (ANI) or other identifier from thecalling party. An example of the identifier may include an IP address ofthe calling party device 114 or a unique identifier of the calling partythat can be received and transmitted by the calling party device 114.The identifier may include information related to at least one of acalling party and a called party.

In response to receiving the caller ID, ANI or other identifier, thedevice 102 sends a query for the calling party name to the CNAM database116 and/or the other database 118. The query may be sent via at leastone communication address such as 106, 120, and 130 (the communicationaddress may include but not limited to a wired communication and/or awireless communication such as a cellular device, a Wi-Fi connection, aPDA, a Bluetooth connection, or the like) of the device 102 to the CNAMdatabase 116 and/or the other database 118 via a direct connection orvia a data network (not shown). Once the query is received, a lookup isperformed in the CNAM database 116 and/or the other database 118 for thecalling party name and other information. If the calling party name isfound, the CNAM database 116 and/or the other database 118 returns thecalling party name and other information associated with the callingparty to the device 102. Thereafter, the device 102 may store theinformation associated with the calling party in cache 131. In anembodiment, the cache 131 may be implemented as a local storage on thedevice 102. Further, the information may be stored based on configurableparameters such as, but not limited to, a number of audio files, a timeduration, size and so forth. Moreover, the cache 131 may not include anyduplicate information or records. For example, the information may bemaintained for a total of 100 non-duplicate audio files for names ofcalling parties. In an embodiment of the invention, the size of thecache 131 may be limited to a predefined limit. For example, thepredefined limit may be 200 KB. Further, the cache 131 may be maintainedon a rolling basis. For example, after the size of the cache 131 reachesthe predefined limit, and when new information is received, then aprevious or the earliest information in the cache 131 may be deleted.

The device 102 can maintain the cache 131 by adding, deleting ormodifying information corresponding to a calling party or a calledparty. For example, the device 102 may delete audio files after apredefined number of days. Alternatively, the device 102 may allow acalling party or called party to modify or delete a file or clear datastored on the cache 131. Also, the device 102 ensures the integrity ofthe data stored in the cache 131. To maintain integrity, the device 102may generate a key on the fly using attributes of the callingparty/called party and encrypt the information including audio responsewith the key. Alternatively, the device 102 may include software thatdetects and prevents malicious attack and ensure data safety.

Therefore, when a new communication such as a call or a message isreceived, the device 102 checks the cache 131 to determine whether thecalling party information is located in the cache 131. If theinformation is present in the cache 131, then the device 102 verifiesthe status of an indicator for audio announcement. The indicator can beset by a called party or configured by the device 102 to an active or aninactive state. In case the status of the indicator is active, forexample, then the device 102 looks up for audio file included ininformation on the cache 131. Subsequently, audio announcement is playedbased on the audio file. For example, at least the name of the callingparty may be announced as the audio. Otherwise, in case the indicator isinactive then the device 102 looks up for the information excluding theaudio file in the cache 131. Thereafter, the information is displayed onthe display 108 of the device 102.

In one embodiment of the invention, if the information is not availablein the cache 131, then the device 102 verifies the status of anindicator. Thereafter, if the status of the indicator is active, thenthe device 102 sends a query, for example, with the calling party numberor other identifier to the CNAM database 116 and/or the other database118 for lookup of information including the audio file. The CNAMdatabase 116 and/or the other database 118 return calling partyinformation to the device 102 if the calling party name/number andcorresponding audio file is found in the respective database.Thereafter, the audio announcement is played based on the audio file. Inan embodiment of the invention, the audio file is streamed to the device102 for playing the audio announcement. For example, the audioannouncement may be played when the audio file is being downloadedand/or stored on the device 102. In another embodiment of the invention,the audio file is downloaded and stored in the cache 131. Therefore, thedevice 102 may not be required to connect to the CNAM database 116and/or the other database 118 when the information is available in thecache 131. However, if the status of the indicator is set as inactive,then the device 102 looks up for the information excluding the audiofile in the CNAM database 116 and/or the other database 118. Thereafter,the information is displayed on the display 108 of the device 102.

The device 102 may provide a playback preference to the called party forselecting a module for playback of the audio announcement. The modulesinclude for example, but not limited to, a headset, a speaker or aBluetooth device, such as an external device capable of playing audiothrough Bluetooth pairing. The device 102 captures the playbackpreference of a module for the called party. For example, the playbackpreference option may include language control/selection option from theservice provider site 408 but the language control/selection option mayfurther include the central office 112, the device 102, the callingparty, and the called party. In another embodiment of the invention, theCNAM request can also include the language indicator to let the serviceprovider site 408 and/or the central office 112 informs the spokenlanguage to generate the audio file. Further, the device 102 may have adefault module in case a module as selected by the user is notavailable. For example, the default module may be the speaker 109 of thedevice 102. Thereafter, the audio announcement may be played through themodule. However, in case the selected module is not available then thedefault module may be selected for playback. For example, the calledparty device 104 may enable the audio response to be played over“Bluetooth” and over the ringer speaker with a ringer interrupt.Alternatively, the called party device 104 may enable the textual nameto be displayed over “Bluetooth” to external displays such as inautomobiles.

In addition to displaying/playing the information and audio response,device 102 may send the information to other user devices, such ascalled party devices 104, 122, and 126, to be contemporaneouslydisplayed on displays 109, 124, and 128 respectively and played on theirspeakers 111, 123 and 129 respectively. In an embodiment, while theaudio announcement is played, the audio announcement may refer to linksthat are displayed on the display 108. Further, the links displayed maybe clickable. For this, a URL may be embedded with the informationdisplayed on the display 108. Further, when the called party clicks theURL, a browser is launched with relevant information of the calledparty.

In this example, displays 109, 124, and 128 are implemented asstandalone devices. In other embodiments, the displays 109, 124, and 128or speakers 111, 123 and 129 can be communicably coupled to called partydevices 104, 122, and 126 or may be integrated with called party devices104, 122 and 126 without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent disclosure. For example, display 128 may be integrated as partof the called party device 126 and the device 102 may send informationdirectly to the called party device 126 to be displayed on display 128.The information may be sent from at least one communication address suchas 106, 120, 130 of the device 102 or via wireless connection 130.

The information/audio response received at the device 102 may includenumber(s) that indicates the sender's phone number, as well as thesender's name, city, and/or state. In addition, the information/audioresponse includes for example alerts in response to an occurrence of anevent, informative and promotional information from a service provider,and situational information from an emergency service provider.Furthermore, the information/audio response may include informationrelating to the calling party, such as an address, a hyperlink, a photo,a video, and any information that can be sent via an Internet Protocolconnection.

Referring to FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C, a flowchart of a method or computerreadable medium comprising instructions for providing audio response toa called party is depicted in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent disclosure. In this example, process 200 may be implemented asinstructions executed within the device 102. Process 200 begins at step202 with receiving a caller ID or identifier of the calling party from acalling party device. The caller ID, ANI or other identifier may bereceived at at least one communication address such as 106, 120, 130 ofdevice 102. Thereafter, at step 204 it is determined if the status of anindicator for audio response is set as active. If the indicator is setto active, then the process continues to step 212, else if inactive,then the process continues to step 206.

At step 212, a lookup is performed in the cache 131 of the device 102for the audio files corresponding to the identifier. Thereafter, at step214 if the audio file is available in the cache 131 then the audioannouncement is played at step 216. Otherwise, if the information or theaudio files is not available, then the process 200 continues to step218. At step 218, a lookup is performed in the CNAM database 116 and/orthe other database 118. Subsequently, at step 220, the information isdownloaded and stored in the cache 131. Further, the audio announcementis played based on the audio file at step 216. In an embodiment of theinvention, the audio announcement is streamed or played while beingdownloaded. As a result, the waiting time for the download and thenplaying the file is reduced. In another embodiment of the invention, theaudio file is downloaded on the device 102 and then the announcement isplayed.

As discussed above, if the audio indicator status is not set to active,then the lookup is performed in the cache 131 for information excludingthe audio file. For example, the lookup may be performed for text datasuch as name of the called party, but excluding the audio file. Theprocess 200 then continues to step 208, where it is determined whetherthe information is available in the cache 131. In case, the informationis available then the information is displayed on the device 102 at step210. Otherwise, the process continues to step 222, where the informationis looked up excluding the audio file. Subsequently, the information isdisplayed at step 210. In an embodiment of the invention, theinformation displayed at step 210 is clickable. For example, the textdisplayed from the information can be clicked to open a browser foradditional information.

Referring to FIG. 3, a flowchart of a process (which includes a methodor computer readable medium comprising instructions) is depicted forplaying audio announcement based on playback preference, in accordancewith an embodiment of the present disclosure. Process 300 begins at step302, where a playback preference of the user is determined. For example,the user may select a module from preferences such as a headset, aspeaker a Bluetooth device and so forth. Thereafter, at step 304, it isdetermined whether the selected module based on the playback preferenceof the user is available.

In case, the selected module is available, then the audio announcementis played through the selected module at step 306. Otherwise, if theselected module is not available, then a default module is selected atstep 308. For example, a default module may be the speaker of the device102. Subsequently, the audio announcement is played through the defaultmodule at step 310.

Referring to FIG. 4, a system 400 providing audio response to a wirelesscalled party in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the presentdisclosure. System 400 is similar to system 100 in FIG. 1, except thatdevice 102 is implemented as a wireless communication enabled device.Device 102 is being implemented as a mobile phone 402, a smart phone404, or a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) 406. In an embodiment of theinvention, the software of device 102 is implemented on called partydevices such as the mobile phone 402, the smart phone 404, or the PDA406. To send and receive information to and from the CNAM database 116or other database 118, one or more of mobile devices 402, 404, and 406can wirelessly communicate with a service provider site 408, which isalso communicably coupled to the CNAM database 116 and the otherdatabases 118 via a data network (not shown) and the calling partydevice(s) 114 via at least one communication network such as a publicswitched telephone network (PSTN) 110, a code division multiple access(CDMA), a global system for mobile communication (GSM). The callingparty device 114 can be, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a PDA, a landline and so forth.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a calling party device 114connects to a receiving party device such as a mobile phone 402, a smartphone 404, or a PDA 406. At least one of the receiving party devicesincludes software to obtain information based on the caller ID, ANI orother identifier. The receiving party devices such as 402, 404, and 406may receive calling party 114 phone number via a service provider 408.The receiving party device, such as the mobile phone 402, retrieves thephone number through the software and sends it to the service provider408 through internet connectivity including but not limited to FTP,HTTP, TELNET, etc. The service provider 408 may function as a webserver, listening information and requests from the software. When theservice provider 408 receives a request with calling party 114 phonenumber, it sends the request to at least the CNAM DB 116 for name orMessage DB 132 for message. In another embodiment of the presentdisclosure, at least the calling party 114 name or other information isreturned by at least the CNAM database 116, an audio file is generatedbased on at least the name from the CNAM database 116. The generatedfile may then be stored at least in the mobile phone 402 as a table forlater matching at the name requests or other information. Theinformation gathered from at least the 116 and 132 by the serviceprovider 408 is sends to the receiving party device such as the mobilephone 402 (not shown).

In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, aspects ofthe present disclosure are provided within the called party devices.Thus, when a calling party communicates by calling or sending a messageusing the calling party device 114, the calling party device such asmobile device 402 receives a caller ID, Automatic Number Identification(ANI) or other identifier from the calling party. An example of theidentifier may include an IP address of the calling party device 114 ora unique identifier of the calling party that can be received andtransmitted by the calling party device 114. The identifier may includeinformation related to at least one of a calling party and a calledparty.

In response to receiving the caller ID, ANI or other identifier, thecalled party device 402 sends a query for the calling party name to theCNAM database 116 and/or the other database 118. The query may be sentwirelessly from the called party device 402 to the CNAM database 116and/or the other database 118 via a direct connection or via a datanetwork (not shown). Once the query is received, a lookup is performedin the CNAM database 116 and/or the other database 118 for the callingparty name and other information. If the calling party name is found,the CNAM database 116 and/or the other database 118 returns the callingparty name and other information associated with the calling party tothe called party device 402. Thereafter, the called party device 402 maystore the information associated with the calling party in cache 131. Inan embodiment, the cache 131 may be implemented as a local storage onthe called party device 402. Further, the information may be storedbased on configurable parameters such as, but not limited to, a numberof audio files, a time duration, size and so forth. Moreover, the cache131 may not include any duplicate information or records. For example,the information may be maintained for a total of 100 non-duplicate audiofiles for names of calling parties. In an embodiment of the invention,the size of the cache 131 may be limited to a predefined limit. Forexample, the predefined limit may be 200 KB. Further, the cache 131 maybe maintained on a rolling basis. For example, after the size of thecache 131 reaches the predefined limit, and when new information isreceived, then a previous or the earliest information in the cache 131may be deleted.

The called party device 402 can maintain the cache 131 by adding,deleting or modifying information corresponding to a calling party or acalled party. For example, the called party device 402 may delete audiofiles after a predefined number of days. Alternatively, the called partydevice 402 may allow a calling party or called party to modify or deletea file or clear data stored on the cache 131. Also, the called partydevice 402 ensures the integrity of the data stored in the cache 131. Tomaintain integrity, the called party device 402 may generate a key onthe fly using attributes of the calling party/called party and encryptthe information including audio response with the key. Alternatively,the called party device 402 may include software that detects andprevents malicious attack and ensure data safety.

Therefore, when a new communication such as a call or a message isreceived, the called party device 402 checks the cache 131 to determinewhether the calling party information is located in the cache 131. Ifthe information is present in the cache 131, then the called partydevice 402 verifies the status of an indicator for audio announcement.The indicator can be set by a called party or configured by the calledparty device 402 to an active or an inactive state. In case the statusof the indicator is active, for example, then the called party device402 looks up for audio file included in information on the cache 131.Subsequently, audio announcement is played based on the audio file. Forexample, the name of the calling party may be announced as the audio.Otherwise, in case the indicator is inactive then the called partydevice 402 looks up for the information excluding the audio file in thecache 131. Thereafter, the information is displayed on the called partydevice 402.

In one embodiment of the invention, if the information is not availablein the cache 131, then the called party device 402 verifies the statusof an indicator. Thereafter, if the status of the indicator is active,then the called party device 402 sends a query, for example, with thecalling party number or other identifier to the CNAM database 116 and/orthe other database 118 for lookup of information including the audiofile. The CNAM database 116 and/or the other database 118 return callingparty information to the called party device 402 if the calling partyname/number and corresponding audio file is found in the respectivedatabase. Thereafter, the audio announcement is played based on theaudio file. In an embodiment of the invention, the audio file isstreamed to the called party device 402 for playing the audioannouncement. For example, the audio announcement may be played when theaudio file is being downloaded and/or stored on the called party device402. In another embodiment of the invention, the audio file isdownloaded and stored in the cache 131. Therefore, the called partydevice 402 may not be required to connect to the CNAM database 116and/or the other database 118 when the information is available in thecache 131. However, if the status of the indicator is set as inactive,then the called party device 402 looks up for the information excludingthe audio file in the CNAM database 116 and/or the other database 118.Thereafter, the information is displayed on the called party device 402.

Referring to FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C, a flowchart of a method or computerreadable medium comprising instructions for providing audio response toa wireless called party is depicted in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present disclosure. In this example, process 500 may be implementedas instructions executed within the called party device 402. Process 500begins at step 502 with receiving a caller ID or identifier of thecalling party from a calling party device. The caller ID, ANI or otheridentifier may be received wirelessly at the called party device 402.Thereafter, at step 504 it is determined if the status of an indicatorfor audio response is set as active. If the indicator is set to active,then the process continues to step 512, else if inactive, then theprocess continues to step 506.

At step 512, a lookup is performed in the cache 131 of the called partydevice 402 for the audio files corresponding to the identifier.Thereafter, at step 514 if the audio file is available in the cache 131then the audio announcement is played at step 516. Otherwise, if theinformation or the audio files is not available, then the process 500continues to step 518. At step 518, a lookup is performed in the CNAMdatabase 116 and/or the other database 118. Subsequently, at step 520,the information is downloaded and stored in the cache 131. Further, theaudio announcement is played based on the audio file at step 516. In anembodiment of the invention, the audio announcement is streamed orplayed while being downloaded. As a result, the waiting time for thedownload and then playing the file is reduced. In another embodiment ofthe invention, the audio file is downloaded on the called party device402 and then the announcement is played.

As discussed above, if the audio indicator status is not set to active,then the lookup is performed in the cache 131 for information excludingthe audio file. For example, the lookup may be performed for text datasuch as name of the called party, but excluding the audio file. Theprocess 500 then continues to step 508, where it is determined whetherthe information is available in the cache 131. In case, the informationis available then the information is displayed on the called partydevice 402 at step 510. Otherwise, the process continues to step 522,where the information is looked up excluding the audio file.Subsequently, the information is displayed at step 510. In an embodimentof the invention, the information displayed at step 510 is clickable.For example, the text displayed from the information can be clicked toopen a browser for additional information.

Although an exemplary embodiment of the system, method, and computerreadable medium of the present disclosure has been illustrated in theaccompanied drawings and described in the foregoing detaileddescription, it will be understood that the invention is not limited tothe embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements,modifications, and substitutions without departing from the spirit andscope of the present disclosure as set forth and defined by thefollowing claims. For example, a greater or lesser numbers of elements,modules, hardware, software, and/or firmware can be used to provideinformation delivery without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent disclosure. Also, the device 102 may be a wireless mobile phone,a personal digital assistant, a cellular phone, an IP-enabled caller IDdevice, or a wired telephone that has IP communication capabilities.Further, the device 102 may include a memory (not shown) and a processor(not shown) to execute the process or the instructions. The memory maybe for example, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM),a disc media or any other computer readable medium comprisinginstruction executable by the processor. Although the device 102 isshown separate from the receiving party device 104, a person skilled inthe art will appreciate that they can be co-located. Moreover, thereceiving party device 104 may include all the functionalities of thedevice 102, without departing from the scope of this invention.

The embodiments of the invention are described above with reference toblock diagrams and schematic illustrations of methods and systemsaccording to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood thateach block of the diagrams and combinations of blocks in the diagramscan be implemented by computer program instructions. These computerprogram instructions can be loaded onto one or more general purposecomputers, or other programmable data processing apparatus to producemachines, such that the instructions which execute on the computers orother programmable data processing apparatus create means forimplementing the functions specified in the block or blocks. Suchcomputer program instructions can also be stored in a computer-readablememory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processingapparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructionsstored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufactureincluding instruction means that implement the function specified in theblock or blocks.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: performing, by a calledparty device, a lookup on a data source remote from the called partydevice of information relating to a calling party including one or moreaudio files; and providing an audio announcement to the called partydevice based on the one or more audio files stored in the cache.
 2. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising verifying a status of an audioindicator for the one or more audio files.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein the lookup of the audio files is performed if the status of theaudio indicator is set as active.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein thelookup of the audio files is not performed if the status of the audioindicator is set as inactive.
 5. The method of claim 1 comprisingreceiving communication from the calling party.
 6. The method of claim1, wherein the providing comprises streaming the audio announcement tothe called party.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the providingcomprises: downloading the audio files at the called party; and playingthe audio announcement from the audio files.
 8. The method of claim 1further comprising: selecting a first module for playing the audioannouncement based on a playback preference; and selecting a defaultmodule for playing the audio announcement when the first module is notavailable.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first module comprisesat least one of a headset, a speaker and a Bluetooth device.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein a communication to the called party includeone or more of a call or a message.
 11. The method of claim 1, whereinthe information relating to the calling party further comprises at leastone of a telephone number of the calling party, a name, a city, a state,an address, a photo, a video, a text, a hyperlink, and any otherinformation that can be sent via the Internet protocol connection. 12.The method of claim 1, wherein the lookup on the data source remote fromthe called party device of the information relating to the calling partyoccurs via an Internet Protocol.
 13. A system, comprising: at least onedevice operable to: perform a lookup on a data source remote from thedevice of information related to a calling party including one or moreaudio files; and provide an audio announcement to the device based onthe one or more audio files stored in the cache.
 14. The system of claim13, wherein the lookup on the data source remote from the device of theinformation related to the calling party occurs via an InternetProtocol.
 15. The system of claim 13, wherein the device is furtheroperable to verify a status of an audio indicator.
 16. The system ofclaim 13, wherein the device is operable to stream the audioannouncement to a called party.
 17. The system of claim 13, wherein thedevice is further operable to: download the audio files; and play theaudio announcement from the audio files.
 18. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that whenexecuted by a processor perform one or more of: performing, by a calledparty device, a lookup on a data source remote from the called partydevice of information relating to a calling party including one or moreaudio files; and providing an audio announcement to the called partydevice based on the one or more audio files stored in the cache.
 19. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein thelookup on the data source remote from the called party device of theinformation relating to the calling party occurs via an InternetProtocol.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 18, further comprising instructions that when executed by aprocessor perform: downloading the audio files at the called party; andplaying the audio announcement from the audio files.